Patricia Pearson

In the following viewpoint, Patricia Pearson claims that domestic violence against men is a serious problem that is being ignored. She argues that domestic violence perpetrated by women is viewed skeptically because, unlike female victims, men often suffer no visible injuries. In addition, Pearson asserts that many feminists have attacked or ignored the findings of people who study the issue of female-initiated domestic violence. Pearson is a crime journalist and the author of When She Was Bad: Violent Women & the Myth of Innocence, the book from which this viewpoint has been excerpted.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to the author, how were battered women treated before the 1970s?
2. What fraction of relationships had an exclusively violent female, according to a 1985 study cited by Pearson?
3. According to Michael Thomas, as cited by...